Raja Sourindra Mohun Tagore or Sourindro Mohun Tagore
CIE (1840, Pathuriaghata - 5 June 1914, Calcutta) was a
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
musicologist who came from an upper-class family from
Bengal region
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
of the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
; that also later produced
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
. He studied both Indian and western music theory and published extensively on the topics. He founded the Bengal Music School and Bengal Academy of Music. A staunch supporter of the British Empire and its agencies in India, he was commissioned to set Indian translations of ''
God Save the Queen
"God Save the King" is the national and/or royal anthem of the United Kingdom, most of the Commonwealth realms, their territories, and the British Crown Dependencies. The author of the tune is unknown and it may originate in plainchant, bu ...
'' to Indian tunes.
Biography
Sourindro was the son of
Hara Kumar Tagore
Hara Kumar Tagore (also Hara Coomar Tagore) (1798–1858) was a leading land owner, philanthropist, Sanskrit scholar, writer and musician from Calcutta. He belonged to the Pathuriaghata branch of the Tagore family.
Life
He was the eldest son of ...
and a younger brother of
Jotindro Mohun Tagore belonging to the
Pathuriaghata
Pathuriaghata is a neighbourhood of North Kolkata in Kolkata district, in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is one of the oldest residential areas in what was Sutanuti. Once the abode of the Bengali rich, the neighbourhood and its surrounding ...
branch of the
Tagore family
The Tagore family (also spelled as ''Thakur''), with over three hundred years of history,Deb, Chitra, pp 64–65. has been one of the leading families of Calcutta, India, and is regarded as one of the key influencers during the Bengali Renaissa ...
. His family owned extensive lands including the battleground of
Plassey
Palashi or Plassey ( bn, পলাশী, Palāśī, translit-std=ISO, , ) is a village on the east bank of Bhagirathi River, located approximately 50 kilometres north of the city of Krishnanagar in Kaliganj CD Block in the Nadia Distric ...
and the pilgrimage site
Ganga Sagar.
He studied at the European-model
Hindu College in Calcutta and took an interest in music, both Indian and western. He published a book on music at the age of fifteen, developed a system of musical notation for Indian music and set up the first Indian music orchestra in Calcutta. He collected musical instruments from India and donated many to museums across the world. He received an honorary Doctorate of Music from Philadelphia (1875) and Oxford (1895).
Music and writings
In 1877 the declaration of Queen Victoria as Empress of India led to the creation of the national anthem of "God Save the Queen". In 1882 a National Anthem Committee was created at the suggestion of Francis Harford. In 1883 he wrote ''On the Good That May Result to England and India from the Establishment of "God Save the Queen" as a National Anthem in Her Majesty's Eastern Empire''. A translation of the wording of the anthem was made by Mirza Mohammed Bakir Khan of Bishop's College, Calcutta into Arabic and Persian. These were then further translated into many other Indian languages. The problem of singing the anthem in a style that would suit Indian musical taste was however vexing and the committee chose the foremost authority on Indian music to help- "a letter will immediately be forwarded to Dr. Sourindro Mohan Tagore, of Calcutta, the principal authority upon Hindu music, requesting him to secure the services of the best native composer, and a melody which shall at once suit Oriental taste and the measure of the translated hymn." The idea was supported by others like Sir
Henry Rawlinson. Sourindra Mohun produced no less than twelve different variations of the anthem based on lum jhijhiti, behag and nagara kirtana styles. In one variant he chose
rag sahana which he claimed was the "favourite melody of the Mahomedan Emperors of India." Tagore also claimed that Indians always supported rule by Kings and he published a book, ''Hindu Loyalty'', with extracts from old Sanskrit sources on the need for rule by Kings. He dedicated the book to
Augustus Rivers Thompson and supported the ideas of Canon Harford that the anthem would help earn loyalty. It has been noted that a major motivation for Sourindra Mohun to work with the National Anthem Committee was to align his family and social group with that of the colonial rulers. He also set some poems by
Lord Lytton to Indian tunes in ''A Few Lyrics Of Owen Meredith Set to Hindu Music, with Added Words and Signs Noting the Two-Part Form of the Tune in Hindustani Music and a Tal Pattern''. He also published on ''The Caste System of the Hindus'' (1884) and noted its antiquity and justified its role in Indian society.
![Sign_page_sm_tagore](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Sign_page_sm_tagore.jpg)
Among Sourindra's published works was a translation of Kalidasa's
Malavikagnimitra. He founded the Bengal Music School in 1871 and the Bengal Academy of Music in 1881. He was made Fellow of the University of Calcutta and a Companion of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire in 1880 apart from being given the title of ''Raja''. He was decorated Knight Commander of the Royal Order of the Crown of Italy and several other Royal recognitions from Sweden, Netherlands, Wurtemberg and Austria.
In 1877, he made an initiative to renew musical ties with
Japan by sending three musical instruments to the
Emperor Mutsuhito of the
Meiji Era to help bring the musical traditions of two nations together.
In 1884, in order to promote the interest in and study of Indian music in other countries, he donated numerous collections of Indian instruments to institutions in North America and Europe including the
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including performanc ...
, London. Tagore worked to establish an annual award at the college, the Tagore Gold Medal, which is still given to "the most generally deserving pupil(s)".
References
External links
Musica instruments donated to the Metropolitan Museum*
Bharatiya Natya Rahasya: Treatise on Indian Drama (1878)
*
The Caste System of the Hindus (1884)
*
Victoria-Giti-Mala; A brief history of England in Bengali Verses. (1877)
*
Yantra Kosha or a Treasury of musical instruments of ancient and of modern India, and of various other countries (1875)
*
English Verses set to Hindu Music in Honor of his Royal Highness The Prince of Wales (1875)
Six principal rágas, with a brief view of Hindu music (1877)*
Hindu Music from Various Authors. 2nd edition (1882)
*
A few lyrics of Owen Meredith (1877)
*
The Orders of Knighthood, British and Foreign, with a brief review of the titles of rank and merit in Ancient Hindustan (1884)
*
Mani-mala or A treatise on Gems. Part II. (1881)
*
The Ten Principal Avataras Of The Hindus (1880)
*
Fifty Tunes (1878) - dedicated to Ashley Eden.
*
Hindu Loyalty: A presentation of the views and opinions of the Sanskrit authorities on the subject of loyalty (1883)Jātīya saṇgīta vīṣayaka prastāva (জাতীয় সঙ্গীত বিষয়ক প্রস্থাবা) (Discourse on National Music) (1870)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tagore, Sourindra Mohun
Indian musicologists
1840 births
1914 deaths
Tagore family
Scholars from Kolkata
Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire
Founders of Indian schools and colleges
Bengali zamindars
English-language writers from India
Musicians from Kolkata
Presidency University, Kolkata alumni
People of British India